Monday, August 20, 2012

It occurred to me recently that my Family Room is not very conducive to all of the rich hues of Fall.

The bright colors and light walls are, well, Springy. It's going to be hard to bring the Fall into this room.

Not sure I even want to really. This room has been so dark and heavy for so many years that I'm kinda likin how light it feels in here now.

On a side note, remember this sweet old wicker table that I just brought home from the auction?

Well it's going to Market next month. It has lead paint that was chipping and I just couldn't risk having baby put that in his mouth.

I replaced it with another table that I got from the same auction.

Equally as cute, don't ya think? And a lot safer.

Another change I made in here was the coffee table. It used to look like this:

Which I decided was a little too distressed for my liking and the Old White was too creamy for this room. I repainted it with A.S. C. P. Pure White and it looks much better.

I also sawed off the bar going across the bottom and added a basket underneath to hold board games and magazines. The large glass vase was a flea market find from over the weekend. I paid $3 for it. Hubby didn't like the bunch 'o branches in front of the TV though, so it found a new home next to the sofa.

Middle has her sad face on because she was up all night with the stomach bug. Poor thing.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

We woke up to a rainy, chilly morning here in South Jersey - a great opportunity to sleep in, something I almost never do, especially during yard sale season. It started to clear up so while the girls slept, hubby and I took little prince to the flea. We stopped at our favorite little place around the corner for coffee and breakfast sandwiches, a great way to start the day!

Rich decided to go fishing when we got home, so I put Cole down for a nap and started playing around the house. After what has been an absolutely brutal Summer of heat waves, it turned out to be a glorious day here and I've spent most of it indoors! Go figure.

But I love to find homes for my new things right away, so that's what I've been doing. I lit all of my candles in every room while I enjoyed the quiet!

The living room is where I blog. It's really more of a study, but I like it that way, because otherwise it would never be used.

My gallery wall is the first thing you see when you walk through the front door.

This is what I see when I turn around at my desk...

The framed art over the secretary was a purchase from my trip to Columbus last week. It was actually in an antique store but on sale for $15.

I got the pretty burlap bow at Tuesday Morning yesterday. It's magnetic and made to embellish a lampshade!

I picked up this large coral thingie last year at a yard sale, but the pipe was from the flea this morning. I got it for $2, but what's funny is that last night was our Third Friday at the barn where I consign and I bought a pipe from one of the other vendors. I may have to start a new collection!

Here is the one one from the barn, and the florals were from the flea.

This is probably my favorite room in the house because it is so totally ME. Most of my favorite antiques are in this room.

I got lots more stuff at the flea, but I'll share that in another post.

What are you doing on this Saturday? So many of you are decorating for Fall, but I think I'll wait til after Labor Day when the kiddos go back to school. I've got lots of projects in the works for September.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Last week I shared the new open shelves in my kitchen. It was part of a greater project that included other changes in the Dining Room. I promised to show pictures and lots of em!

As my taste has evolved and I continue to create a cozy home for my family, I've learned that I am just not the formal type. I pull out the good china MAYBE once a year at Christmas when I entertain. Other than that it just collects dust in a China Cabinet that is a little too formal for my taste.

I decided to de-formalize, beginning with the buffet, which got a make-over a couple months ago.

Here it is before:

And after a coat of A.S.C.P. in Old Ochre. You can read about that transformation here.

Better, but it still had a long way to go. After much agonizing, I decided that the china cabinet just wasn't my taste. Its factory finish and big box production-line quality just don't flow with the rest of my home, which is basically an eclectic blend of antiques and vintage furnishings. AND, I had the perfect piece to put in its place! So I boxed up all of my good china and took the plunge.

A few years ago I scored this bakers rack on Craig and it is still one of my all-time favorite pieces of furniture.

It is rustic and sweet, and even though it is a factory piece, it has all the charm of an antique. It sat in my kitchen until I started de-formalizing my Dining Room and realized it would be perfect in there. At the same time I was contemplating open shelves in the kitchen and the only logical place to put them was on this wall with the bakers rack.

The puzzle pieces started to come together and I put my formal china cabinet on Craig's List. But quickly realized that it wasn't going to budge. With so many people getting away from "formal" these days, Craig has become absolutely saturated with fine dining sets.

So I got the idea to use the base of the cabinet for underneath of my open shelving. I removed the doors and painted it white to match the existing cabinets in my kitchen.

I think this new look makes the kitchen seem larger.

We put the hutch in storage for now until I decide what to do with it. But I really don't think it will be making its way back into this house.

So here is the bakers rack in its new home in the dining room.

Looks like it was made for this room.

I also took the advice of some savvy bloggers and removed the two arm chairs. They are in the basement and I will pull them out when needed, but there really was no sense in taking up so much room. New slipcovers from Target.com add to the informal look.

Basket below the buffet is from Pottery Barn. I added some stripes just for fun.

This is no room for a baby - formal or not!

The base of the centerpiece is from Clover Market, and I picked up the huge glass dome at a yard sale. So fun to fill it for the changing seasons!

The last thing on the list is to paint the base of the table Old Ochre, but that will have to wait.

I will continue to swoon at pictures of formal dining rooms on Pinterest and will always drool over the gorgeous tablescapes in blogland. But this gal has decided that formal is just not my normal.

Thanks to all of you for your sweet Birthday wishes. It truly was one of the best Birthdays on record for me. Mostly due to the fact that I got to spend the day shopping!!!

Denise took me out to breakfast for my birthday and then we headed out to Columbus Flea Market. We had never been there before as it is almost an hour away, but we already decided we are going back, probably not until the Fall when it is cooler. We shopped in the extreme heat, but that didn't stop us.

We found some great things for Clover Market, which is just around the corner, and I got some great things for myself as well. Hubby sent me off with a Card O'Cash!!

The first thing I spotted was an old stool. I didn't want to buy something the second I got there so I went back for it and thank goodness it was still there! It was only $10.

Here it is in the Master with an old globe on it. On a funny side note - I picked up the globe at our local flea two weeks ago. The guy sold it to me for 50 cents! I couldn't believe it. I even tried to give him more money, but he wouldn't take it.

When I insisted, he threw in this old glass jug.

Total for both? One Dollar!

Trophies are my new favorite thing. I got the larger one recently from Antique Farmhouse. The little one was a present to myself from Columbus. It was $5.

Love how this sideboard is coming along in the Dining Room. Fun, fun, fun!!

Denise and I collect old tool boxes whenever we can find them. They are great to fill with all different things, and we can usually sell them at Clover. This little one is a favorite as it is in very good shape and made of solid pine. I'm babysitting it until the show.

Shhhh. Don't tell Denise anyone...

And this sweet little box found a new home on my entertainment center.

This painting was my absolute favorite find of the day. It is just so darn sweet! I hung it up on the little hallway from the kitchen to the Dining Room.

It's really big, and was a steal at $15.

But I think the purchase that got me the most excited was this old sign. We paid only $10 for it.

Doesn't it look like it came straight out of Ye Olde Shoppe in Merry Old England?? We are going to have one of my sponsors, Maison De Stencils, make us a custom stencil that says Larkspur Interiors, and hang it in our booth.

I bought a few other things for myself, but these were the most fun. Aren't Birthdays great? No matter how old we get. And even better shared with friends.

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Finding bliss in everyday life and getting by with a little help from my friends: my college sweetheart-turned-husband and our 3 blissful kids - two teenage girls and one miracle baby boy. I'm fascinated by any inanimate object with a past. Imagining where things came from and who they belonged to is my passion. Finding a new home for them is my challenge.